Beirne’s goal: Rehab knee in time for Arizona’s season-opener

Bryson Beirne is aiming toward a return in a few weeks. Photo by Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats quarterback Bryson Beirne, who suffered a sprained right ACL during a scrimmage on Aug. 13, said he is hopeful of being ready to play by the season-opener.

That would be against Northern Arizona on Sept. 3.

“I want to play against NAU, but we’ll see what happens with my knee,” Beirne said after Saturday night’s scrimmage at Arizona Stadium. “Stuff like this you can’t really force.”

Beirne put a general timetable of two to three weeks on his return. So while getting back for the NAU game is on the optimistic end, a return by the start of Pac-12 play — Sept. 17 against Stanford — appears realistic.

“Probably, yes,” he said. “If it takes me that long to get ready … shoot, I hope not.”

Beirne, a fifth-year senior, is Arizona’s insurance plan on being able to redshirt senior Matt Scott behind Nick Foles this season. Beirne is expected to be able to capably run the offense if Foles has to leave the game or is injured for a short period of time.

Just as Beirne was in position to take meaningful snaps for the first time in his career, he suffered the knee injury while scrambling and planting his right leg. He called the injury “just one of those freak accidents” on what he called “sticky” artificial turf at Fort Huachuca.

“I never play the ‘Why me?’ game,” Beirne said. “Everything happens for a reason. It’s just part of the game. If I can’t handle it, then I shouldn’t be playing, right? I never have that negative attitude.”

He said he already is recovering some range of motion in the knee during rehab and hopes to push the pace when a fitted knee brace arrives.

“Once that brace comes in,” he said, “I think we’ll start getting more nasty with the rehab, get more in-depth with it.”